US embassy cable - 05ALMATY4350

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ALMATY 004350 
 
SIPDIS 
 
TASHKENT FOR EPUTNAM 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON, SENV, ENRG, EPET, KZ, Environment 
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN ENVIRONMENT UPDATE 
December 2, 2005 
 
 
1. Summary:  This information is drawn primarily from the 
Kazakhstani press, and has not been verified.  The opinions 
expressed in this report, therefore, should not be 
interpreted by readers as conveying positions and/or policy 
of the U.S. Government. 
 
-- Local Prosecutor Calls Tengizchevroil Negligent 
-- Baby Sturgeons Released into the Aral Sea 
-- Construction Begins on Toxic Waste Landfill 
-- Forest Fire in Ile-Alatau National Park 
-- Shungite Could Reduce Environmental Problems 
-- Shardara HES Director Says Riverside Villages Should Be Removed 
-- Parliament Ratifies Teheran Environmental Convention 
-- Program to Provide Drinking Water in Pavlodar Oblast Continues 
-- Second Phase of "SOS-Saiga" Project Began in Early November 
-- National Strategy on Avian Flu to be Ready by Year's End 
-- Kazakhstani Scientists Decipher Genome of H5N1 Virus 
-- Senate Adopts Law on Ecological Insurance 
 
 
Local Prosecutor Calls Tengizchevroil Negligent 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
2. (U) Atyrau Oblast Prosecutor Batyr Zhazbayev alleged to the 
press that Tengizchevroil does not have good control over 
its operations.  According to Zhabayev, after a July 2 
accident which resulted in the emission of 700 tons of 
pollutants, four more accidents occurred over four months. 
On the day of the accident, four employees of 
"Tengizchevroil" complained of acute toxic exposure to 
hydrogen sulfide and 183 people filed complaints to a local 
clinic.  The damage was estimated at 17 million Tenge.  The 
Environmental Prosecutor's office has charged two foreign 
officials at the company for being responsible for the 
accident and took the case to court.  (Vremya, November 7, 
2005) 
 
Baby Sturgeons Released into the Aral Sea 
----------------------------------------- 
 
3. (U) 30,000 baby sturgeons were released into the Maly Aral, the 
northern part of the Aral Sea, marking the beginning of a 
fish cluster in the region.  The release became possible 
with the completion of the Kok-Aral dam, which has raised 
water levels in the Maly Aral.  Two fish farms have been 
restored and 100,000 baby sturgeons were delivered from 
Atyrau.  The remaining sturgeons will be released next 
spring.  Specialists do not anticipate any problems with the 
release.  (Kazakhstanskaya Pravda, November 2, 2005) 
 
Construction Begins on Toxic Waste Landfill 
------------------------------------------- 
 
4. (U) Western Kazakhstan Oblast began constructing a landfill for 
hazard class 1, 2, and 3 toxic wastes.  The Oblast allocated 
52 million Tenge from the 2005 budget for the project.  The 
total area of the landfill is 18 hectares.  Currently there 
is no toxic waste landfill in Western Kazakhstan Oblast and 
large enterprises are obliged to store toxic waste in big 
containers on their property.  The absence of a landfill 
increases the risk of environmental pollution.  (Kazakhstan 
Today, November 10, 2005) 
 
Forest Fire in Ile-Alatau National Park 
--------------------------------------- 
 
5. (U) A forest fire in the Bolshoy Almatinka gorge lasted for two 
days.  Negligent tourists started the fire, which took more 
than 100 firefighters and 2 helicopters to extinguish.  The 
fire quickly spread after it burned acres of Tien Shan 
spruce, which contains flammable oils.  It will take 30 to 
50 years to restore the forest.  (Habar, November 7, 2005) 
 
Shungite Could Reduce Environmental Problems 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
6. (U) Kazakhstani scientists are hopeful that shungite, a mineral 
found in Karelia, Russia, will solve environmental problems 
in Kazakhstan.  Experiments have shown that shungite can 
decontaminate the soil, reduce radioactive and oil 
contamination, decompose heptyl and oil products into 
ecologically safe compounds, neutralize mercury vapor. 
(Kazakhstanskaya Pravda, November 15, 2005) 
 
Shardara HES Director Says Riverside Villages Should Be Removed 
--------------------------------------------- ------------------ 
 
7. (U) According to Kudaibergen Erzhan, director of the Shardara 
HES, families should be resettled away from areas prone to 
flooding along the Syr Darya River.  According to Erzhan, 
the local authorities are wasting time and draining the 
national budget in their efforts to prevent flooding by 
patching up holes in dams.  In recent years the overflowing 
Syr Darya has flooded small riverside settlements and caused 
many problems.  On November 14, Kazinform reported that the 
Aral-Syrdarya Water Basin Administration did not expect 
floods this winter because the oblast had carried out 
riverbank protection works at the most vulnerable places in 
the summer.  (Press release of "Kazgidromet" RSE, MEP of the 
RK, November 25, 2005; Kazinform, November 14, 2005) 
 
Parliament Ratifies Teheran Environmental Convention 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
8. (U) The Upper House approved a bill to ratify the Framework 
Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of 
the Caspian Sea, Interfax reported.  The bill has been 
submitted to the President for signing.  The Lower House 
passed the bill in September.  The Convention was signed 
in Teheran by Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Russia, and 
Turkmenistan on November 4, 2003.  Among the 
guiding principles of the Convention is the "polluter 
pays" principle, which implies that the polluter bears the 
cost of pollution including its prevention, control, and 
reduction.  (Interfax, November 23, 2005) 
 
Program to Provide Drinking Water in Pavlodar Oblast Continues 
--------------------------------------------- ----------------- 
 
9. (U) Implementation of the "Drinking Water" program Pavlodar 
Oblast is moving ahead, according to Kazinform.  In 2005, 
seven water mains were reconstructed in 5 districts.  The 
water supply in 117 settlements will be improved through 
2007 under the program.  From 2001 to 2004, the water supply 
in 94 villages was improved, water mains in 33 settlements 
were reconstructed, and 61 water cleaning facilities were 
built.  The central government and oblast budget allocated 
1.2 billion Tenge to cover these improvements.  (Kazinform, 
November 26, 2005) 
 
Second Phase of "SOS-Saiga" Project Began in Early November 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
10. (U) The Seimar Social Fund provided Ohotzzoprom 10 cars and 
communication equipment to patrol, monitor, and assess the 
saiga population in Zhezkazgan, Kzylorda, and Almaty 
Oblasts.  The "SOS-Saiga" project started on June 23 and 
aims to protect Kazakhstan endangered saiga antelope. 
Poaching and predatory wolves are the main reasons for its 
disappearance.  Saigas are hunted for their prized horns, 
which fetch $100 per kilogram.  The third phase of the 
project will begin in March 2006.  The objective of the 
third stage is to protect young saiga antelopes from 
poachers and wolves.  (Strana i Mir, November 25, 2005) 
 
National Strategy on Avian Flu to be Ready by Year's End 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
11. (U) Kazakhstan's National Strategy on Avian Influenza 
Prevention should be ready by the end of the year. 
Specialists from the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of 
Agriculture, and the Republican Sanitary and Epidemiological 
Center are working on the strategy, incorporating 
recommendations from the WHO and the U.S. Centers for 
Disease Control.  The strategy calls for the creation of a 
system for constant monitoring, the establishment of 
diagnostic laboratories, and the purchasing of the Tamiflu 
vaccine, the only known effective means of combating avian 
flu.  (newswire@apex.kz, November 30, 2005) 
 
 
Kazakhstani Scientists Decipher Genome of H5N1 Virus 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
12. (U) Scientists at the Agricultural Research Institute in 
Almaty Oblast have deciphered the genome of the H5N1 
virus, which opens the possibility of identifying if the 
strain is a Kazakhstani virus.  Researchers at the 
Institute discovered that the Kazakhstani virus is 100% 
identical to the Russian virus and 99% identical to the 
Chinese one.  Scientists at the Institute are confident 
they could produce vaccines in several months time, but 
are unable to do so because they lack funding.  To combat 
avian flu, scientists have recommended the establishment 
of a biological safety center.  The government is moving 
in this direction, having allocated 95 million Tenge to 
fund the first year of the 2006-2008 Program for 
Biosafety.  One of the program's objectives is the 
prevention of spread of the avian flu virus. 
(Kazakhstanskaya Pravda, November 30, 2005) 
 
Senate Adopts Law on Ecological Insurance 
----------------------------------------- 
 
13. (U) On November 23, at its plenary session, the Senate 
ratified the "Law On Mandatory Ecological Insurance." 
Minister of Environmental Protection Aitkul Samakova noted 
that the new law creates the legal basis for mandatory 
ecological insurance of liabilities of physical and legal 
entities carrying out environmentally hazardous economic 
activity, and for damage to health and property of third 
parties or the environment as a result of accidental 
pollution.  The insurance sum for individual entrepreneurs 
will total 5 monthly index factors (MIF) and for legal 
entities will total 65 MIFs.  (Kazinform, November 23, 
2005)